No, it's not a misprint: The Detroit Red Wings have cap room, and lots of it.

The Red Wings, who have long walked a fine line near the cap's upper limit as one of the NHL's top spenders, are in a strangely unfamiliar position early this season, ranking just 18th in the league in projected cap spending around $59 million.

In large part, the Red Wings' change in cap fortune is the result of Brian Rafalski's unexpected retirement, which shaved $6 million off their payroll. General manager Ken Holland opted not to replace Rafalski's big ticket in full, perhaps because of the underwhelming nature of last summer's unrestricted free-agent market.

The Red Wings' cap payroll sits roughly $5.3 million below the $64.3 million upper limit. If they don't spend those dollars until February, that figure will translate into as much as $24 million in acquirable cap hits at the trade deadline.

It's a drastic contrast to last season, when the Red Wings had enough cap room to add only a league-minimum salary of $525,000 at the deadline. And it leaves Holland virtually without restrictions if he wants to load up his roster for the playoffs.

As it turns out, the Red Wings aren't the only team sitting pretty. A healthy $4.9 million increase in the limit has meant that teams simply aren't as tight to the cap as they were last season, when 12 teams were estimated to have exhausted almost every dollar of cap space.

Although more than half the league projects to spend upward of $60 million, most of those teams are comfortably below the limit of $64.3 million.

I think Holland has done an amazing job thus far in the past couple years, now it's really his time to shine come the trade deadline.

The Best Of BCHankthaTank- Squirrels, they hate to be thrown. / Why is the magical unicorn named Brian... Jedi - I just downloaded the "kids" book, "Go the F--k to Sleep" as narrated by Samuel L. Jackson on my kindle. I am now ready to be a daddy. / *Checks Router* No, I'm positive I didn't hit the "Wings Defense Sucks" button. Electrophile - I'm just glad the Wings were able to win despite the Curse of Brian. ACallToArms - I think Trey needs to put something about payroll tax and deferred income in his sig... Edicius- I'd rather [have] a soundbite of me saying "I like (man sausage)" rather than "I like Crosby".

I think we should all pray the Devils are not in it come the trade deadline because if so I would definitely not be surprised to see them trade Zach Parise since he is a UFA after this year... No doubt the wings would be interested too... OMG that would be amazing!

Sweet. This dude was brought here for one reason, to punch people in the head - every other thing that he can do, other Wings can do better. I like that we have a head-puncher. The league has other, better head-punchers, but this one is ours. Better than nothing. Good work, Kenny!

I think we should all pray the Devils are not in it come the trade deadline because if so I would definitely not be surprised to see them trade Zach Parise since he is a UFA after this year... No doubt the wings would be interested too... OMG that would be amazing!

So awesome. No doubt.

But he's the new Devils captain, you know? That right there is an indication that he's in it for the long haul imo.

Kenny has never had money at the trade deadline so I'm not sure he knows what to do. He's like a college student who just found 100 bucks on the ground in the laundry mat. He is either going to sit on it and try to acquire a good UFA this offseason (depending on where the Wings sit in playoff standings) or pick up someone who will be an UFA this offseason. Two completely different scenarios.

I hope he picks someone up at the deadline and avoid the massive contract one might have in the offseason. I know they'll have to restructure during the offseason but being there beforehand might lessen some of the cap hit they may take during the offseason signing. By picking up someone close to the deadline, we could seriously improve our standing towards the playoffs and to make a run at the cup.

I'm excited as hell right now! The wings are 4-0 and have room for improvement on defense and the PP. An acquisition at the deadline could boost our PP or defense could seriously strengthen this team exponentially. IF the Wings keep going on the early path they have established, we are in for a great season and a very exciting period prior to the deadline.

"Get Er Done" Kenny!

What kind of color is red? Red is a warning. A declaration. A color that says I'm ready to do what it takes. Red is focused and Driven because red doesn't like second place. So what Kind of color is red? Our kind" - The Red Wing Army

We won't be making a big deadline deal. We won't be trading away assets for what will be a rental. Guaranteed. The cap space is for the off season. I wouldn't even be surprised if Kenny doesn't use it until 2013. Next year's FA crop isn't very good either.

We won't be making a big deadline deal. We won't be trading away assets for what will be a rental. Guaranteed. The cap space is for the off season. I wouldn't even be surprised if Kenny doesn't use it until 2013. Next year's FA crop isn't very good either.

Based on the way Kenny has played the deadline since the lockout, i completely agree with you. But going into this deadline....this is pre-lockout free spending kind of money, so let's see how Kenny handles it. Let's just cheer against Nashville all season and hope Mr. I-like-to-shoot-the-puck-through-the-net is being dangled in front of our face!

We won't be making a big deadline deal. We won't be trading away assets for what will be a rental. Guaranteed. The cap space is for the off season. I wouldn't even be surprised if Kenny doesn't use it until 2013. Next year's FA crop isn't very good either.

We won't be making a big deadline deal. We won't be trading away assets for what will be a rental. Guaranteed. The cap space is for the off season. I wouldn't even be surprised if Kenny doesn't use it until 2013. Next year's FA crop isn't very good either.

Based on the way Kenny has played the deadline since the lockout, i completely agree with you. But going into this deadline....this is pre-lockout free spending kind of money, so let's see how Kenny handles it. Let's just cheer against Nashville all season and hope Mr. I-like-to-shoot-the-puck-through-the-net is being dangled in front of our face!

Teams that figure to contend for the Cup don't just swap players. You either add something or do nothing. The last three years we haven't had any cap room to add anyone. That doesn't mean Kenny isn't willing to make moves.

We may not add anyone, it depends on who's available and at what price. We'd have the option of keeping pretty much anyone, so it wouldn't necessarily be a rental. The biggest problem really is that we just don't have that much worth trading.

We won't be making a big deadline deal. We won't be trading away assets for what will be a rental. Guaranteed. The cap space is for the off season. I wouldn't even be surprised if Kenny doesn't use it until 2013. Next year's FA crop isn't very good either.

As has been mentioned...I think its really tough to have it both ways in the cap world.

You can't be very competitive year after year, while simultaneously going after rentals all the time. Holland, probably rightly so, highly values his draft picks/prospects and won't go flinging them around in the hopes of landing someone who may not even gel with the team in time (see Kaberle & Penner from last year).

Its exciting to think about for sure and would certainly boost the Wings cup chances this year if they were able to pick up a top six forward, but I imagine they'll hang on to the cap space for the offseason.

We won't be making a big deadline deal. We won't be trading away assets for what will be a rental. Guaranteed. The cap space is for the off season. I wouldn't even be surprised if Kenny doesn't use it until 2013. Next year's FA crop isn't very good either.

Fully agree, but too many people play video games and don't understand how unrealistic their wants are.

The Best Of BCHankthaTank- Squirrels, they hate to be thrown. / Why is the magical unicorn named Brian... Jedi - I just downloaded the "kids" book, "Go the F--k to Sleep" as narrated by Samuel L. Jackson on my kindle. I am now ready to be a daddy. / *Checks Router* No, I'm positive I didn't hit the "Wings Defense Sucks" button. Electrophile - I'm just glad the Wings were able to win despite the Curse of Brian. ACallToArms - I think Trey needs to put something about payroll tax and deferred income in his sig... Edicius- I'd rather [have] a soundbite of me saying "I like (man sausage)" rather than "I like Crosby".